APAC mobile data to equal 1.1B DVDs monthly in 2016

Mobile data traffic in Asia-Pacific is predicted to reach 4.32 Exabytes or 1.08 billion DVDs per month in 2016. The region will experience the second highest mobile traffic growth from 2011 to 2016, behind the Middle East and Africa, according to Cisco Systems.

In a statement Thursday, the company said Asia Pacific will see an 84 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of mobile data from 2011 to 2016. This makes the region the second fastest growing market for mobile data, after the Middle East and Africa which will experience a CAGR of 104 percent.

It highlighted that China will account for over 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016, up from less than 5 percent in 2011.

In the Asia-Pacific region, mobile data traffic will make up 12 percent of the total traffic from fixed and mobile lines in 2016, a jump from 2 percent in 2011, said the report. In fact, mobile data traffic in 2016 will be six times the volume of the entire Asia-Pacific Internet activities in 2005, it added.

Mobile-connected devices in the region will also grow. Units of smartphones in the region is expected to grow 3.7 times to reach 866 million between 20116 and 2016. In 2011, smartphone grew 71 percent to reach 231 million units, it noted.

In 2011, the number of mobile-connected tablets in the region grew 3.1 fold to reach 6.9 million, it noted. Globally, tablets will generate the most mobile data traffic in 2016 to reach 1.1 exabytes per month, which is about the total amount of global mobile data traffic in 2012 which was at 1.3 exabytes per month, said the report.